


Thaw

by PeaceHeather



Series: OUAT Fics [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Conversations, F/M, Henry being kind of an idiot, Hypothermia, Leroy being suspicious, Referenced smut but nothing explicit, Rescue, Smut behind closed doors? Is that a thing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:37:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6430330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceHeather/pseuds/PeaceHeather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two part story based off two Tumblr prompts: Honestly I forget what the first one was, but I think it was a hypothermia thing, or it might have been trying to guess Hook's middle name. I can't remember. The second one was the song lyric "that we ever should have met is a miracle" or something like that. Originally posted in April of 2014.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Where are they?" Boots, loud on the dock, as Emma and the others came charging up the gangplank and onto the deck of the Jolly Roger.

"They're here, I swear they're here, I saw Hook dragging the kid and they haven't left since I called you!" Leroy, accusatory, his voice harsh in the still air.

"Look, I already told you," started David, "– here. God, they must have been soaked."

Emma was already following the trail, footprints and dripping water, puddles of it, across the deck and down the hatch. It was so dark down here, always, she'd never gotten used to it...

"Here." David clicked on his flashlight.

The galley door was shut, but the water on the floor went both toward it and away. Emma listened for a moment, but heard no voices, until...

"Here! I got him!" David shone the flashlight back the way they'd come. Leroy had Hook shoved up against a bulkhead, glaring at him with his teeth bared. Hook's teeth gleamed, too, in the dim light, but Emma could read his face better than she liked.

He was in pain.

"Where is he,  __ _pirate_? Where the hell did you put Henry? Did you think we wouldn't –"

"Knock it off, Leroy." Emma's voice came out flat and hard, uncompromising. "We've told you a dozen times but you don't want to listen."

"He's a pirate!"

"He helped us! He's saved all our lives!" Emma pulled Leroy bodily off of Hook, who still hadn't said anything. "Just – get over yourself and back off."

David still had his light trained on Hook, and Emma could see that he was soaked to the skin, hair slick and sticking to his forehead, clothing dripping all over the floor. His boots squelched when he shifted his weight. He bent down and Emma saw fabric, neatly folded, on the floor where he'd dropped it. A loose shirt, it looked like, and a gray wool blanket.

His hand was shaking harder than Emma had ever seen it.

So was the rest of him, and Emma could smell the seaweed and dead fish odor.

"Hook?"

He shuddered again, barely keeping himself upright. "G-g-galley," he managed to say. "'S w-warmer. Henry. He f-f-f..."

"Fell in?!"

Hook nodded.

David was already headed down the corridor, Leroy on his heels. Emma got an arm under Hook's shoulder and helped him follow.

The heat inside the little kitchen was stifling and damp, the seaweed smell even stronger. Henry was sitting at the table as close to the stove as he could get, half-naked, with his clothing slopped in a soggy pile on the floor next to the stove. He was shivering, too, but not nearly as badly as Hook still was.

They were efficient, Leroy stoking the flames in the little stove with another scoop of coal as David reached for the bundle Emma had taken from Hook, to keep it dry. Henry was pulling the shirt over his head, all the laces undone but still not nearly as oversized on him as it should have been – kid was growing like a weed – and David was wrapping him in the blanket, as Emma sat her pirate on the nearest bench and began to yank his clothes off.

When he  __ _didn't_ say anything about her stripping him in front of an audience – c'mon, the opportunities for a lewd remark were practically endless – Emma started to worry.

"What the hell happened here, guys?"

"Yeah," put in Leroy, "what'd he do, Henry, shove you in and you took him with you?"

Emma opened her mouth to retort, but Henry beat her to it. "Stop!" he said angrily. "Y-you keep doing that and it's n-not fair! Captain Jones saved my life, okay?"

Captain Jones? Emma looked up, her hands stilling where she was trying to get Hook's shirt off of his... hook... without tearing the sleeve open.

Emma had to hand it to Henry; the kid didn't get mad often, but when he did, look out. Apparently he could even out-glare a dwarf. "H-he's saved our lives over and over again and you still won't cut him any slack. It's like you think we're all l-liars or something. Is that it? Do you think we're just making it up?"

Leroy opened his mouth, shut it again. He kept blinking but couldn't seem to find any words.

"Kid," said Emma quietly, "what happened?"

"Hold that thought," said David. He dropped a hand onto Hook's bare shoulder, and flinched at how cold the skin was. "Jones. Your cabin still unlocked?"

Hook nodded. There was a sudden wash of cooler air as David left the galley, closing the door behind him.

She looked at Hook, sitting there shuddering on the bench, his eyes shut, skin clammy and pale. Emma took off her jacket and draped it across his shoulders.

"You gonna be okay?"

Hook didn't answer at first, then his eyes opened and he nodded, the motion jerky and stiff. He looked up at her and offered a ghost of a smile. His teeth were still chattering too hard, when he tried to speak he couldn't get the words out, but the expression on his face said  __ _"Eventually, yes"_ and  __ _"Thanks for asking"_ and thanks for a host of other things Emma couldn't, or refused to, name.

There was another gust of cold air as David returned, holding another blanket, more clothing, and a coil of thin rope. He and Hook shared a look, and David nodded.

"Emma, let me take over here. You know where the tea supplies are, right? You go ahead and get that started, please, these guys could use a hot drink. Leroy, the cups are in that little cupboard behind you, do you mind? Henry, why don't you go ahead and tell us what happened."

Henry's eyes followed her as she went about, grabbing the teapot and dipping out fresh water from the barrel in the corner. Emma realized, glancing around, that David had gotten everyone to look away as he helped Hook to undress. His boots came off first, then there was a wet slap on the floor as, out of sight, David shucked Hook of his pants.

"Henry?"

There was a hiss as she set the teapot on the stove.

"It was dumb," he said quietly. "I just wanted to see if Ariel was gonna come visit today."

"You know she doesn't when it's this cold out," said David.

"I know," said Henry. "But it was warmer yesterday, and I just – anyway, I was out on the dock and I didn't realize things had frozen over. I waved at Captain Jones, and then while I was leaning out over the edge of the dock, I slipped on a patch of ice."

"B-b-bloody f-f-f-foolish thing to d-do, lad," said Hook. There was a clunk on the table, and Emma turned around; David had gotten the brace off Hook's arm, and there it lay, hook and buckles and wet leather straps. Emma had never seen him without it.

He had his back to her and his shirt already on; as she watched, he and David settled the blanket around his shoulders. He kept his – his  __ _other_ arm, tucked under the blanket and hidden.

"I know," said Henry. "Mom, it was so cold I couldn't even  __ _breathe_."

"And H-" No, she decided. He wasn't wearing it. Neither Henry nor David called him that. "And Jones jumped in after you?"

He stiffened in his seat, turned to look over his shoulder at her.

"I guess so," said Henry.

"Aye," said Hook. Said  _Jones_.

The teapot whistled on the stove. Emma blinked, startled, and used a rag to pick it up. Leroy had set the cups all in a row, and tossed a pinch of tea leaves into each one; Emma poured the water and the sharp, bitter smell filled the air, overpowering the stink of seaweed, dead fish, and wet clothing. David strung the line up overhead, from the door to the farthest cabinet, and started draping wet clothing across it. There was another hiss as Hook's shirt dripped onto the stove, before David adjusted it.

"You could've been killed," said Emma, after Henry had taken his first sip. " __ _Jesus,_ kid, you could have  __ _died_ and Hoo – Jones could've died trying to save you, and none of us would have known about it!"

"Leroy called you," protested Henry. "I heard him yelling when we got back to the ship."

"Because I saw a pirate running like hell with you over his shoulder!" said Leroy. "I didn't see what happened before that – if he hadn't gotten you out of the water you both would've just disappeared!"

"Did anyone even know you were down at the docks, Henry?" asked David.

"No," he said miserably.

" _Because_?"

"...because Mom said not to come down here, 'cause Ariel wouldn't come today." Henry ducked his head.

" __ _Because_?" David's glower was something that would scare an ogre, thought Emma, and they were blind. Leroy's face wasn't much happier, and Emma was caught between wanting to hug her kid so tight he couldn't breathe, and wanting to... if he were an adult she'd be decking him right about now for his stupidity.

Henry sighed, and mumbled, "Because the water was too cold for mermaids, and it was dangerous to be down here."

"So you knew?" demanded Emma. "Regina already told you not to come? And you did it anyway?"

"I'm sorry," said Henry, but she cut him off.

"Sorry isn't  _good_  enough, kid!" She slammed the teapot down hard on the table. " _Sorry_  wouldn't have brought you back if you were killed. If you  _froze_  to death, if you freaking  _drowned_  because you couldn't be bothered to  _listen_  when someone tells you something is too dangerous, and not to do it!"

"Mom, I'm –"

"No! Henry Daniel Mills, don't you 'Mom'  _me,_ we just got you back from Neverland, I have busted my  __ _ass_ to keep you safe and you don't seem to get that there are things we can't save you from!"

"Hook saved me!"

" __ _Jones_ was in the right place at the right time and it is a goddamned  __ _miracle_ that he was, do you not get that?" Emma was the one shaking now, now that Henry had stopped and the danger was past. " __ _Dead_ is not just some other realm we can hop across with a magic bean and bring you back from if you ever end up there. Dead is  _dead_ , do you hear me? You could've been –"

"Easy, Emma, hey, easy," David's hand was on her shoulder, steering her away from Henry to sit on the bench beside Hoo – beside Jones. Her son was crying now, and she could feel the tears streaking her own face, too, and  _dammit_ if she were in her right mind she would hate doing this in front of an audience, but...

"Leroy, you got your cell on you?" David's voice, calming, as he passed the remaining cups of tea around to everyone. Emma could only sit there next to the man who'd saved her son's life, both of them shivering albeit for different reasons. "Get ahold of the hospital, ask them if we should bring Henry in to get checked out, just in case."

"This tea is gross," said Henry.

"You're lucky you're still alive to taste it," said Leroy. "What about the captain?"

"Wouldn't go for g-gems and jewels," said Hook. "S-see to the boy."

"Call Regina too," said Emma. "Tell her everything. Tell her every last detail."

"Mom!" said Henry.

"Kid, after a stunt like this you'll be lucky if you're allowed out of the house for the next three months," said Emma.

"Whale says he'll be waiting for us," said Leroy. "So does Regina."

"C'mon, big guy, finish your tea and let's get you to the truck," said David. He gathered up Henry's clothes and passed them to Leroy.

Henry shuffled around the table, his blanket clutched tight. He stopped in front of Emma, who had to force herself to look at him.

"I'm really sorry, Mom," he said, and she grabbed him into a fierce hug. "I'm sorry, I really really am..."

"Henry," she breathed. "I love you so much, kid. Don't you  __ _ever_ –"

"I won't, I swear," he said, squeezing her back. She let him go after a second, and he threw his arms around Jones, too.

The look on his face would have been funny, under other circumstances. He wriggled his good arm out from under the blanket, and patted Henry on the back awkwardly.

"Thank you for saving my life," said Henry quietly. "I mean,  _again_."

Jones gave a little chuckle. "You're welcome, lad," he said. "Try n-not to make a habit of this, aye?"

"Yes, sir," Henry replied, and Killian's whole face softened.

David put his hand on Henry's head and moved toward the door of the galley. Emma stood, uncertain whether to stay or go, but David shook his head. "Jones still needs help," he said, once Henry was outside. "Henry will have Regina and all of us." He smiled. "Plus I think Henry isn't going to want you both yelling at him at the same time."

"I've already had my turn?" asked Emma.

"Something like that."

"I probably shouldn't have been so hard on him –"

"Aye, you should," said Jones, overlapping David, "Yes, you should have." David nodded at the captain to continue. "The b-boy nearly died today; it's a harsh lesson, and it n-needed to sink in. In m-my p-proper time and place, it wouldn't have been out of place to beat the lad, but I gather you don't d-do that here."

"What he said," added David. "You did fine." He kissed her on the forehead. "You stick around here, take a minute, help Jones until he throws you out..."

"Not likely," said Killian.

"...give us a call when you're ready for dinner," David finished.

* * *

 

"Can I get you anything?" asked Emma once the footsteps outside had faded.

"A splash of rum in the tea wouldn't go am-miss," said Killian.

"I'm not sure that would help," she said, and he shook his head.

"Your boy's right," he replied. "Have you forgotten how bitter this tea is without something sweet stirred in?"

"You make it too strong," said Emma. "Anyway you haven't had any yet."

"Hand's still a bit shaky, love," he said, and Emma grimaced. He reached for the cup and Emma wrapped her hand around his, holding it steady as he drank.

His fingers were still so cold, even though the galley was practically a sauna right now.

"You sure you're going to be okay?"

"Aye," he said softly. "As long as I keep out of the cold for the next couple of days..." His eyes lit. "Of course, it would help if someone were to warm my bed before I climbed in."

Emma smiled, slowly, knowing now that he'd be fine. "Lookin' for a little  _gratitude_ , there, pirate?"

He chuckled, quiet and a little breathy. "Again, it wouldn't go amiss. It was quite a thank-you I received for saving your father, after all, I –"

She cut him off with a kiss, gentle and sweet; shifted to straddle the bench and wrap her arms around him. She rested her forehead on his shoulder and said nothing for a long moment. "Thank you," she said finally. Squeezed him tighter as she fought another round of tears. "God,  _thank you_. You have  _no idea_ –"

"Aye, I do," he said. She felt him shift in her embrace, laying his arm across her shoulders and rubbing his jaw along the top of her head.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and they were the most peaceful Emma could remember in... years, maybe. But finally he shifted again, reaching for his cup of tea.

"I was amused to hear you use Henry's second name," he said. "Our realms are so different, yet it seems that custom remains the same – using the child's full name when he's really in trouble."

Emma laughed, surprised. "I bet you got that a lot," she said.

"On the contrary, I was a model of obedience and good upbringing," he said primly, and Emma laughed again.

"Yeah, right."

"I was," he insisted. "My older brother, on the other hand..."

"Yeah, well," said Emma. "If I knew your middle name, I'd use it on you, too. Henry's not the only one who almost died today." She gave him one last squeeze and sat up. "Killian Whatever Jones, don't you dare, something something."

His expression softened as he looked at her over the rim of his cup. "You'd be upset if I were gone?" he asked.

"What, are you kidding?"

"No."

Emma sobered, searched his face for hidden motives. Which was stupid; the man had never hidden his motives from her, even when they'd been on opposite sides. She might not know what he was to her, or what they were together, but she knew exactly where she stood with him.

She tilted her head, considering, then leaned in. He met her halfway, and their kiss this time was deeper, lingering, and lit a slow smoldering fuse inside Emma.

"Yeah," she said finally, "I'd be upset if you were gone." She swallowed, recognizing the layers of meaning in that statement. Wondering if he heard the  __ _don't leave me_ hidden inside, fearing that he did.

Maybe, kinda, hoping that he did.

"Then I shall be certain not to go," he said. "So long as you don't reserve the use of my name for only those occasions when you are angry with me."

Now it was Emma's turn to grin wickedly. "What, you really don't want me to scream it at you... anytime soon?" His eyebrows went up in surprise. "Killian Whatever Jones?"

He bit his lip and raked his gaze over her. "I thought that was supposed to go along with 'don't you dare,' or something along those lines."

"Mmm," she said, shoving the blanket off his shoulders. "How about 'don't you dare stop'?

"A brilliant plan," he said with a look of awe as she climbed into his lap.

* * *

 

It turned out that Emma did keep Killian's bed warm that night.

"Strictly for health reasons," she said.

"Of course," he replied.  "And was the galley table, also, strictly in aid of my health?"

"Shut up," she said, and burrowed deeper into his side, under the covers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude, immediately post-smut. Still nothing really explicit.

The two of them were laying together atop the galley table, arms and legs all a-tangle, still catching their breath.

"Quite a sturdy table you got here," said Emma, stretching to nuzzle and nip at Killian's ear.

"Aye," he replied, voice husky and still that little bit breathy that made Emma's toes curl. "I'm surprised it held up, in all honesty. Quite an enthusiastic show of gratitude, darling."

They chuckled, breath intermingling, huffing across sweat-soaked skin. With a little grunt of effort, Emma lifted herself off Killian's chest, looking him in the eye.

"You know that's not all this was," she said, sobering.

Killian reached up, toyed with a lock of her hair before tucking it behind her ear. "I hoped," he said, "but I didn't wish to presume." His mouth quirked once, then spread in a lazy, sated smile. "In the event you decided that this also was a 'one-time thing'."

"No," she said. "No, it – I don't know what it is, I mean I – I usually don't…" She looked away, frustrated. That she could still find it this hard to say what she felt, or even to understand what she felt…

"Hush, darling," he said softly, but she shook her head, closed her eyes tight, and took a deep breath.

"This wasn't just gratitude," she said. "You saved Henry's life, and I can't ever… there's no way I can just – pay back something like that. And I don't pay for things with sex anyway; not ever. That's not what this was. But you – I was yelling at Henry because he could have died today, but if David hadn't stopped me I'd've yelled at him for almost taking you with him. The whole time I was thinking you could have died, too." Emma opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, and focused her blurry gaze on the chain of his necklace, the pendants resting on the table beside his jaw. "And I thought about you being gone, and I just, I-I couldn't –"

"Shh," said Killian. He wrapped his arms around her, drew her down to rest against his chest once more. His heartbeat, his voice rumbled against her cheek as he said, "I'll not leave you, Swan, not so long as you'll have me."

"You don't always get to decide that," she said, and he squeezed her tighter.

"No," he admitted, "but never of my own free will. You…" and she felt him tense beneath her. "You know how I feel about you."

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "And I don't… I don't always know what to do with that. Or how I feel about it, or whether we'd be any good together, or any of it. I do know that I don't want to just use you and how you feel about me, that's the shittiest thing I can think of and it's – that's not what this was, either. I just know that, right now, if I think about you being gone, it hurts, and if I think of you being – being dead – that's… that's something I don't think I could handle."

"You won't have to, for as long as Fate decrees," said Killian. She could hear the emotion in his voice, felt him kiss the top of her head, and she dropped little kisses along his collarbone in return.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the faint rush of flame and hot air from the galley stove and the occasional creak of wood as the _Jolly Roger_ shifted with the tide. Together their breathing evened out, and Emma let her mind drift, till a thought occurred to her that made her chuckle.

"What is it?" Killian stirred beneath her, drawing a deep breath as if he'd been dozing.

"Mm," she mumbled, "it's nothing, really. Just something I was telling Henry, about how it was a miracle that you were in the right place at the right time, to see him, you know? When he fell off the dock?"

"Aye."

"Well, it's just – I mean, in our world all of you people are just storybook characters. And even knowing that you're real, _you've_ been in Neverland or wherever for, what? A couple hundred years?"

"Hard to say, really," said Killian. "Time stands still there; I've no idea how many years passed in, say, the Enchanted Forest, while I was away. I suppose I could ask David, see if he knows how long ago the king I knew was upon the throne." He shifted beneath her, dragging his hand up her spine and into her hair. "What of it?"

"Nothing, it's just – I mean it really _is_ a miracle that you, of all people, were in the right place to save Henry today. I mean, it's kind of a miracle that you and I even met, much less… all the rest of it." _All the rest of this,_ she thought, feeling the place where their thighs were pressed together, the place where their hearts beat against one another's bodies.

He made a contented little noise beneath her. "Reminds me of something I said to you when we first met. When I was still…" He paused, cleared his throat. "In the Enchanted Forest, when I was posing as a blacksmith."

"Not your greatest acting job, buddy," she said, and he chuckled, the motion vibrating all along her ribs and belly.

"Perhaps not. But I remember saying, 'It seems Fortune has seen fit to show me favor'… do you remember?"

"I think so," said Emma. "Yeah."

He traced a fingertip along the shell of her ear, and she shivered. "Perhaps Fortune heard me then, and decided to make my words true," he said softly. "Perhaps we've both been shown favor, hmm?"

"I dunno that I've done anything to deserve it," she said doubtfully, and he tugged at her, lifting her up so he could gaze into her eyes.

"You deserve happiness far more than I," he said. "All the things I've done… but what we deserve isn't necessarily a part of it. Dame Fortune is notoriously fickle, you see."

Emma leaned down again, for a kiss that threatened to start all over again what they'd just finished doing, and she wasn't so sure the table could take a second round. "Yeah, well," she said, "Fortune better not change her mind on us, or I'll kick her ass. Just watch me."

Killian laughed. "I've no doubt whatsoever, love," he said. "As for watching… mmm, you in a temper, eyes all afire with passion? I can think of nothing I'd enjoy more."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to leave extra kudos, you're welcome to stop by [my Tumblr blog](http://peaceheather.tumblr.com) and say hello.


End file.
